Along with Suryakumar, chief selector Ajit Agarkar spoke to the media, explaining why the in-form batsman was passed up despite having a stellar IPL 2025 season. On Tuesday, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) revealed their 15-man roster for the 2025 Asia Cup, with Shubman Gill serving as his deputy and Suryakumar Yadav as captain. Notably, one of the most talked-about aspects of the team announcement was the exclusion of Shreyas Iyer.
Considering his recent performance, Iyer’s exclusion was unexpected. In the IPL 2025, the right-hander helped Punjab Kings reach the final with 604 runs at a strike rate of 175 and demonstrated his dominance in the game’s shortest format. Ajit Agarkar clarified, nevertheless, that Iyer’s absence was not because of bad form.
“Once more, it was not his fault. Tell me who he can replace, please. will currently have to wait for his opportunity,” Ajit Agarkar stated during the press conference.
The top selector emphasised that there is fierce competition for the position, particularly in the middle order, where India already has Jitesh Sharma, Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma, and Suryakumar.
Ajit Agarkar also discussed the difficulties of assembling a well-rounded team from a just 15 players. Although he acknowledged that it was a difficult decision, he said that Abhishek Sharma had the advantage due to his overall value.
“It’s regrettable. Given Abhishek’s performance over the past year or so, it is necessary that he provide us with a bowling alternative. “There was always going to be one of these guys who missed out,” he continued.
In Rinku, we thought we needed more batter: Ajit Agarkar
Agarkar clarified that the selectors wanted an additional batter in Rinku Singh for Washington Sundar, who is in the reserves but was also left off the main squad.
“He’s always involved in the big picture. Axar has been in business for a while, and we currently have two mystery spinners/wristspinners in Varun and Kuldeep. He might always come up when we need four spinners. We thought we needed more batter in Rinku for the time being. Moreover, you could only select 15. The former pacer came to the conclusion that he might have been in if there had been sixteen.
Eight-time Asia Cup winners India will play the United Arab Emirates on September 10 to kick off their campaign. On September 14, they will play Pakistan in a high-profile match at the Dubai International Stadium.
India’s Asia Cup team included 15 players:
Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav (c), and Shubman Gill (vc)
Reserves:
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Washington Sundar, and Prasidh Krishna
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